24 People Detained in Moldova for €1.5M FX Investment Fraud

The authorities in Moldova busted a network of forex investment fraud that has resulted in the detainment of 24 people. The prosecutors are now in the process of criminal proceedings under charges of money laundering Money Laundering Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Read this Term.

Officially announced on Wednesday, the operation against the fraudulent operation was conducted jointly by the anti-corruption prosecutors and NAC officers. They raided dozens of workplaces of the criminal network before bringing in the detainees.

The alleged perpetrators have victimized hundreds of people from Moldova, Russia and Kazakhstan. The fraudulent scheme received more than €1.5 million in deposits from the victims, many of who deposited tens and hundreds of thousands of euros into the fraudulent scheme.

According to the officials, the network of fraudsters operated for the last two years. They established a company in Cyprus with a representative office in Chișinău, Moldova.

The suspects approached the victims disguising themselves as the representatives of the Moldovan subsidiary of an existing Russian financial market company. They offered advisory services in the financial market, promising profitable investments even in the forex market.

When the investors found out about the bogus nature of the investment scheme, the alleged fraudsters closed all communication channels. They even changed phone numbers and took down other platforms used for contact.

A Long Operation

The two dozen people were detained after several months of investigation against the criminal activity. Additionally, the authorities tracked down the financial trail of the network through bank accounts in Cyprus, the United Kingdom and South Korea.

Moreover, the network of fraudsters tried to disguise the source of the funds through the transactions. They brought the money into Moldova “for the payment of salaries and taxes.”

However, such forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term investment scams are not new as fraudsters often lure victims with the promise of high returns. Recently, Thailand's police arrested 24 people, a mix of Chinese and Thai nationals, for running an organized fraudulent investment network.